Brinker Places Fourth in ANNIKA Intercollegiate

LAKE ELMO, Minn. – Duke women’s golf junior Phoebe Brinker carded a 6-under-par, 210, at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate Presented by 3M en route to a fourth-place finish at the 6,408-yard, par 72 Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn.

As a team, the Blue Devils were in the hunt for the trophy all day, but couldn’t quite make enough putts on the way in.  Duke turned in rounds of 292, 284 and 289 to finish with a 1-over, 865, to place tied for fourth.  Wake Forest came-from-behind to win the team title with an 858, while Texas (862), Virginia (863), South Carolina (865) and Duke (865) rounded out the top four teams.  

    

How It Happened

•    The Blue Devils played the front nine at 1-over-par in the morning and then closed with an even-par ledger on the back nine.  

•    Duke finished with 14 birdies on the day, which was the lowest total of the week for the Blue Devils.    

•    Phoebe Brinker featured back-to-back birdies on No. 2 and No. 3 to get her final round started strong and moved to 3-under through 10 holes as she drained a 10-footer for birdie.  She closed the day at even par over her final eight holes with four pars, two birdies on No. 15 and No. 18 and two bogeys.  

•    Over the three days, Brinker carded rounds of 72, 69 and 69 for a 6-under, 210, which was the third-lowest 54-hole score of her Duke career.

•    Senior Erica Shepherd turned in her second straight top-12 finish at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate with scores of 72, 73 and 72 for a 1-over, 217.  In Wednesday’s final round, she drained a 15-foot birdie on No. 2 to get in the red numbers early.  With an 8-footer for birdie on No. 8, she made the turn with a 1-under, 35.  On the back nine, Shepherd turned in eight pars and one bogey finishing with an even-par, 72.  

•    Freshman Andie Smith closed her first collegiate tournament with back-to-back birdies on her way to finishing with a 3-over-par, 75.  After draining seven birdies the day before, Smith couldn’t quite get the putter working as well on Wednesday.  She hit 12 greens and made birdies on No. 2, No. 17 and No. 18.  Smith reached the green in two on the par-5 18th and had a 32-foot putt for eagle.  She finished tied for 29th with scores of 77, 69 and 75 for a 221.  

•    With her second straight round of 1-over, 73,…